Sanitary napkin



E. E. GLOMSTEAD SANITARY NAPKIN Filed Feb. 16, 1932 EDWIN E. GLOMST'EAID, OF MENASHA, WISCONSIN,

Patented May 10, 1932 UNITED STATES {PATENT OFFICE 'assrelvoa 'ro INTERNATIONAL 'CELL'U'COTTON PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 01 DELAWARE SANITARY NAPKIN Application filed February 16, 1932. Serial No. 593,360

This inventionv relates to an improvement.

in the construction of a sanitary napkin and this application is in part a continuation of my copending application, Serial No. 573,772, filed November 9, 1931. The principal object of this invention is to provide a 'sanita napkin of superior form fitting characteristics, that is to say, to provide a sanitary napkin in which the pad element is so formed that its end portions will have a decided tendency to maintain a normal flat condition and to fit'snugly against the body without protruding sufii'ciently to cause any anxiety to the wearer that the presence of the napkin will be detectable .by reason of any bulge or the like in the dress of the person. The improved construction is of particular advantage when tight fitting dresses are worn but the increased comfort of a smooth and close fitting sanitary napkin renders the improvement advantageous and desirable without regard to the style of clothing worn. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawings in which is illustrated a sanitary napkin embodying a selected form of the improved construction. In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective, a portion of the wrapper being unfolded to disclose the interior construction.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the pad element alone bent to substantially the shape which it takes when worn.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the pad ele-- ment when in the condition illustrated in I Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of one end portion of'the pad element.

Referring now to the-drawings, the 1mproved sanitary napkin therein illustrated includes a pad element 8 which is surrounded .by aTlgauze or like textile material wrapperv e pad elementS is elongated and has rounded ends as indicated at 10 andthe gauze wrapper-is also elongated and folded longitudinally around the pad element so that its erasure side marginal portions 11 and 12 overlap the top side of the pad. The gauze wrapper extends considerably beyond the ends of the pad element 8 to form attachment flaps such as indicated at 9".

end portionsof the pad element are treated so' as to stifl'en'the end portions transversely and preferably to taper the normal thickness of the pad to a comparatively thin end. This result may be effected by compressing or compacting the ends of the pad in areas spaced slightly inwardly from the end ed e of the napkin as indicated at 13. As clear y shown in Fig. 3, a marginal edge portion 14 is not directl compressed but is nevertheless reduced in thickness to a marked extent as an incident to the compacting of the area 13.

Hence, theedge of the pad retains a certain de ree of flufliness or softness. I

' y compressing the end portions of the pa in the manner just described, the sheets or layers of. paper which form the pad are united, in effect welded, together so that they will resist separation and relative slippa e both longitudinally and transversely. n this way the area 13 is also stiffened, so that it tends to retain its normal flat condition.

When a na kin embodying the described pad construction is applied, the body portion of the pad element intermediate its ends is folded longitudinally and downwardly so as to present a smooth, convex top surface 16' so as to efi'ect the tapering of the thickness of the pad at its ends principally on the bottom or outside of the pad element. Hence, when the pad assumes the condition illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the tapered portion 17 of the pad assumes a position in which it does not project materially beyond the plane of the extreme end portion of the pad. Hence, bulging does not occur at a point spaced below the extreme end of the pad. The thinness of the extreme ends of the pad also serves to avoid any bulging efl'ect at such extremities.

When a napkin is applied, it is ordinarily suspended from a belt or undergarment to which it is secured at each end either by means of a single buckle, safety pin or other fastening means, thus concentrating the upward draft or pull mainly along the centerline of the gauze wrapper. This centerline pull has a tendency to crease or wrinkle the end portions of thepad, more or less in continuation of the fold of the intermediate portion of the pad. This tendency is effectively a resisted by the stiffened area 13 so that the body hugging characteristic of the pad ends is insured.

Changes may be made in the described construction without departing from the spirit so of the invention, the scope of which should be determined .by reference to the following claim, the same being construed as broadly as possible consistent with the state of the art.

I claim as my invention 55 A sanitary napkin comprising a pad element and a wrapper of textile material, the pad element being formed of a plurality of relatively superposed layers of crepe paper, an area at an end portion of the pad being w compacted sufliciently to permanently reduce the thickness of such end portion and to stifi'en the same sufficiently to maintain such end portion in substantially flat condition when the napkin is applie EDWIN E. GLOMSTEAD. 

